Atlantic Hurricane Season kicks off

It's the one international storm season that grips many New Zealanders - the Atlantic Hurricane Season that sends monster storms barrelling towards the United States of America.

June 1 marks the beginning of the season with most of the action usually from late August through until the end of September. As we did last year we'll keep you up to date with any major hurricanes heading towards land through America's 'hurricane authority' Weather.com.

For early June, areas typically favorable for tropical development in the Atlantic include the Gulf of Mexico eastward to near the Bahamas and the western Caribbean.

Low pressure in the southwest Caribbean Sea will move slowly north the next couple of days. Upper winds to the north of this weak low are very strong, which is unfavorable for development.

Expect poor weather conditions to persist over portions of Central America with more clouds and rain.

Elsewhere, scattered showers and storms will continue over Florida and the northwest Bahamas with low pressure aloft.

Little organization is expected the next 24 hours with an upper-level low east-northeast of Puerto Rico in the subtropical Atlantic.

The Weather Watch Centre will only bring you regular updates once a hurricane has formed and is moving towards land - so don't worry about our website filling up with international weather news...we're certainly not short of weather news here in NZ! And remember for detailed daily news and videos you can always go to our weather partner, www.weather.com.

Comments

I see NOAA's May 21st prediction is for a near-normal Atlantic Hurricane Season this year, i.e. 9 to 14 named tropical storms, 5 to 7 of which will reach hurricane strength, with 1 to 3 of those becoming major hurricanes.